Councillor surgeries

First Saturday of the month

10am- 11am

Carmelita Centre, 41 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5JT

 

3rd Wednesday of the month

6.30pm-7.30pm
Durning Library, 167 Kennington Lane, London SE11 4HF 

No appointment is needed. You can also email your councillors at any time. 

Thank you!

The result of the local election in Prince's ward has just been announced.

David, Chris and Joanne are thrilled to have been elected with big majorities.

They want to thank everybody who voted, and promise to work hard for everybody in Kennington and Vauxhall.

Here is the full result:

David Amos Labour 2342 20% Elected
Chris Marsh Labour 2160 18% Elected
Joanne Simpson Labour 2058 17% Elected
Claire Louise Barker Conservative 761 6% Not elected
James Howard Bellis Conservative 705 6% Not elected
Michael Charles Poole-Wilson Conservative 606 5% Not elected
Eleanor Anne Halsall Green 548 5% Not elected
Joe Taylor Green 479 4% Not elected
Vivienne Jane Baines Liberal Democrat 441 4% Not elected
Fern Christene Lindsay Green 428 4% Not elected
Malcolm Ian Baines Liberal Democrat 401 3% Not elected
Daisy Rose Christodoulou Liberal Democrat 360 3% Not elected
John Dodds UK Independence Party 334 3% Not elected
John Howard Independent 170 1% Not elected
Larry Hutchinson Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition 95 1% Not elected

Vote today for David Amos, Chris Marsh and Joanne Simpson

 

In today's local election you have THREE votes - please use all THREE votes for Labour:

1. David AMOS

12. Chris MARSH

14. Joanne SIMPSON


You also have a separate ballot paper for the European election - you have ONE vote for a party - please vote LABOUR
 

You don't need your polling card to vote - you just need to give your name and address. 

Polls are open 7am to 10pm.

If you make a mistake on your ballot paper, return it and ask for another.

If you have a postal vote which you haven't yet posted back, you can take it to the polling station.

Polling stations:

VBA 

Walnut Tree Walk School, Walnut Tree Walk, SE11 6DS

THIS POLLING STATION HAS CHANGED FROM THE LAST ELECTION

 For people who live on the Ethelred Estate, Ethelred Towers, Whitgift Estate, Parliament View, 216 Kennington Road, Hotspur Street.

VBB and VBC

Vauxhall Primary School, Vauxhall Street, SE11 5LG

For people who live on the Vauxhall Gardens Estate, and anywhere between Black Prince Road and Kennington Lane.

VBD

Archbishop Sumner School, Reedworth Street, SE11 4PH

For people who live around Walcot Square, Wincott Street, Chester Way, Renfrew Road, and Cotton Gardens.

VBE

Durning Library, 167 Kennington Lane, SE11 4HF

For people who live on the Cottington Close Estate, Penwith Manor Estate, Kennings Way Estate, and around Cleaver Square, Methley Street and Stannary Street.

Our local pledges for SE11

On 19 April we launched the Lambeth Labour manifesto for the council election on 22 May.

We have also launched three local pledges for SE11. If you elect us as your local councillors, these are our pledges that we will work towards over the next four years.

1. Protect, preserve and enhance our green spaces, making sure all our parks have a clear programme of works, and identify funding for the works.

2. Work with small businesses and shops to find ways of supporting Kennington Cross, and the smaller shopping areas, so that business and the community can thrive.

3. Tackle anti-social behaviour caused by the night-time economy by strengthening our licensing powers.


Remember that next Thursday, 22 May, you have three votes in the council election - please use all three for your Labour candidates:

David Amos
Chris Marsh
Joanne Simpson

Lambeth Walk big mural launch event

Ethelred TMO and Creative Sparkworks have partnered together to bring a fun event for the community. Come along to create a legacy for the people of Lambeth Walk.

Saturday 24 May
10am - 2pm
Lambeth Walk Market Square

Licensing application: Maximo Cafe, Kennington Park Road

A New application for a Premises Licence under the Licensing Act 2003 in respect of the below-mentioned premises was received by the licensing authority on the 30th April 2014   

Applicants Name:    Maximo Café Ltd

Premises Address:    Maximo Café - 58 Kennington Park Road London SE11 4RS 
Activities/times requested:   

Plays
    Thursday - Saturday      18:00  - 00:00
Christmas Eve and New Years Eve until 2am.

Live Music
    Saturday      10:00  - 23:00
    Sunday      11:00  - 18:00
    Thursday - Saturday      18:00  - 00:00
    Tuesday - Friday      09:00  - 23:00
Christmas Eve and New Years Eve until 2am.

Supply of Alcohol
    Sunday      12:00  - 19:00
    Tuesday - Saturday      12:00  - 23:00
Christmas Eve and New Years Eve until 2am.

Please direct any queries in respect of this application to the following case officer:
Mrs Esther Jones
Telephone: 020 7926 6144    Email: licensing@lambeth.gov.uk


Prior to determining this application, the licensing authority may accept written representations from Responsible Authorities and Interested Parties on the likely effect of the grant of this application in relation to the licensing objectives, which are:

•    Preventing crime and disorder;
•    Public safety;
•    Preventing public nuisance; and
•    Protecting children from harm.

Representations will be disregarded if they are deemed to be vexatious, frivolous, or irrelevant, or if they are received later than the 28th May 2014

Lambeth Community Awards

2014 is the first year that Lambeth has brought together the Lambeth civic awards and Lambeth champions awards and will be running a borough wide – Lambeth Community Awards.

Nominations will be judged by a panel of councillors, the Metropolitan Police, Fire Brigade and independent members of the business and voluntary sectors of the community. The closing date for nominations is Monday 26 May 2014 at 5pm. The awards ceremony will take place in July. For more information please visit: www.lambeth.gov.uk/communityawards or if you have any questions contact communications@lambeth.gov.uk

The eight categories are:

1. Bringing your neighbourhood together award
2. Making Lambeth safer community award
3. Helping people into jobs and training community award
4. Cleaner and greener community award
5. Keeping Lambeth healthy community award
6. Young person’s community award
7. Lord Scarman award
8. Voluntary or community organisation of the year award

Pictured: Vauxhall's community in action at a dog show in the Pleasure Gardens

Our commitment to making cycling safer in our area

We welcome the excellent work that the London Cycling Campaign has done in helping coordinate some of the priorities of cyclists in Lambeth.

Lambeth is already the third most popular borough for cycling and have made a manifesto commitment to make Lambeth the most cycling friendly borough in London. We want as many people as possible to get involved and are determined to ensure that their journeys are swift, safe and secure.

• We’ve made and will continue to make record investment in our road and pavement network. In the next four years alone we will tackle potholes by upgrading more than 130 miles of highways and footpaths.
• We will work with neighbouring Southwark and introduce a borough-wide 20MPH zone.
• We will continue to press the Mayor of London to better manage the roads under his control and call for essential improvements to dangerous junctions and gyratories. We will also continue our good work with the police to encourage and enforce more considerate behaviour from motorists, offering cycling awareness training for drivers of HGVs, buses and other fleet vehicles, Lambeth's included.
• Our particular local priority is to sort out the Vauxhall Gyratory system - which we want to see transformed to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists
• We were the first borough in the UK to introduce secure, covered cycle hangars on streets and estates for residents without sufficient space in their homes - these are being introduced to Brook Drive soon. We are also working with Network Rail and TfL to ensure secure parking at both ends of your journey.
• We’ve also successfully campaigned to bring Barclays Bikes to Lambeth and are currently working on their wider expansion into the south of the borough.

In Prince's ward Lambeth Cyclists asked us to:


Undertake measures on Kennington Road and Kennington Lane to make them child friendly, either through motor traffic speed and volume reduction or through separate space for cycling, ensure that children can cycle throughout the ward, rather than be confined to a few back streets.

What we are doing:

Lambeth aspires to make Kennington Road completely cycle friendly and is lobbying  TfL to provide funding as part of the Central London Cycle Grid to develop proposals in 2014 for implementation in 2015/16.

Lambeth is developing designs for the TLRN section between Kennington Park Road and Kennington Lane and will seek funding and permission from TfL to implement these in 2015 in conjunction with the Oval Better Junctions works.



There will always be more that we can do and we’ll always only be able to achieve real success with the help of our residents who cycle or are interested in getting involved. If you or anyone you know have any ideas or points of view in addition to those highlighted by this campaign then please do not hesitate to get in touch and let us know.

Paul McGlone's speech at the opening of the Diamond Way Buddhist Centre at the Beaufoy Institute

Earlier this month the Beaufoy Institute reopened its doors after years of lying empty and neglected. It's now the home of the Diamond Way Buddhist Centre, after Lambeth Council took the decision to sell the site and use the proceeds to invest in our community's priorities. Lambeth's Cabinet Member for Finance Councillor Paul McGlone made the following speech at the event:

There is a saying attributed to Mark Twain that “History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Rhymes”.

That is the sentiment I feel most today standing in this beautiful building that has many ‘ribbons of history’ that rhyme with Lambeth’s past, present and now its future around education, learning and arts.    

The lovely red-brick facade of the Beaufoy Institute has looked over Black Prince Road in Lambeth for more than a century, and has always stopped people in their tracks with its beautiful architecture and artistry.

I am personally fascinated with the connection of this building and the progressive Doulton family and the history of Lambeth Doulton ceramics and pottery.

My understanding is that this building was built using a patented Doulton Tile system, and a Doulton was one of the original school governors of the institute.

Others are best place to reflect on the heyday of the Beaufoy Institute as a place of learning. But I would like to introduce the friend I brought with me, Mr Roger Bowdery, who went to school here at the Beaufoy Institute 55 years ago!

The many wonderful connections with Lambeth’s past that connect with this building must be captured for the future, and I hope they are.  

But fast forward to more recent times and Lambeth Council’s involvement.

I first came to this building in 2007 when I was Cabinet Member for Regeneration and then in 2008 as Cabinet member for Children and Young People.

Having stood empty and neglected for some years, there was a strong proposal to turn it into a museum for a collection of De Mogan ceramics. But that proposition floundered.

This was followed with a very real proposal to turn the building into a school again, an Arts and Crafts Academy, with an educational sponsor and backing from the Prince of Wales Trusts. But that plan also faltered to.

In a different role in 2010, as Cabinet Member for Finance, I made the decision to disposal of the building and the adjacent property and land, with the expectation that the Institute building would have a new lease of life.

Sometimes in local government you have to realise that you have to ‘let go’ to allow better things to happened. And that is what has happened here. What has been achieved has benefited everyone.

Buy disposing of the property, the sale proceeds of approx. £7 million have allowed

1. The Beaufoy Trust, of which all Lambeth councillors have historically been ‘corporate trustees’, to be financially endowed with £1.2m of funds to use for updated philanthropic purposes, as the Beaufoy family originally intended.

2. From the £600,000 Section 106 contributions, local ward councillors (Stephen Morgan, Lorna Campbell and Mark Harrison) were clear they wanted the local community to share in the benefits.

So to support Lambeth's co-operative work to give citizens greater control over their neighbourhoods, decisions have been made to spend more than £200,000 on such things as computers at Durning Library, Lollard Street Adventure Playground, re-landscaping outside Coverley Point and work into the greening of Tyers Street.

3. Importantly, I recommended to the Cabinet in July 2012 that the balance of funds of £5.6m be ‘ring fenced’ and have now been invested directly in building Lambeth schools, thus benefitting future generations of young people.

4. And now finally, by you acquiring it and conversion into the London Diamond Way Buddhist Centre, the Beaufoy Institute building has a new lease of life.

This wasn't without its difficulties! Some have said that the planning application was the second most controversial one of recent times!

But the positive outcomes of Lambeth Council's decision to grant planning permission to Diamond Way Buddhist Centre to purchase the Beaufoy Institute are now self-evident.

I also know that Diamond Way Centre will work with the local community to ensure there is a community resource for all to share.

Equally, I know my colleague Councillor Lorna Campbell is pleased and has worked to ensure that the Buddhist Centre is part of the ‘Faiths Together in Lambeth’.

This is our borough-wide independent interfaith organisation that fosters constructive relationships among religious communities, and promotes interfaith involvement in civic life in Lambeth. This relationship is really welcome.

So in concluding, all I can say personally is that I wish this centre all the best for the future, and hope it will always be a place of peace, contemplation and learning.

Thank you.

Pictured: Prince's Labour candidates Chris Marsh, Joanne Simpson and David Amos with Leader of the Council Lib Peck outside the Beaufoy Institute

Tell the Kennington Association what Kennington wants

From the Kennington Association:

In July, Lambeth Council hope to introduce Community Local Infrastructure Plans (CLIPs), to decide on spending the neighbourhood share of Community Infrastructure Levies  paid by developers of new buildings. Kennington is likely to be bundled together with Oval and Vauxhall, who have already had consultations with residents about neighbourhood improvements like greening roads and traffic calming.

So what does Kennington want?

To obtain views, the Kennington Association (KA) is conducting a survey of Kennington opinion. Please follow this link to tell KA your views: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SBVCVL7

You can be anonymous if you like, but it will help KA to see how widespread suggestions are if you give your home postcode as part of the survey.

Best regards,

David Boardman (Chair of Kennington Association Planning Forum)
Kennington Association, 102 Lollard Street, London, SE11 6PX
Email: Kenningtonassociation@gmail.com

Primary school places for all in Lambeth

For the second year running Lambeth Council has been able to offer a primary school place in the borough to every child whose application was on time. Almost 90% received their first or second preference place.

This is despite a massive increase in demand for primary school places in the south of the borough over the past few years. Lambeth's met this increased demand by expanding schools and building new schools.

Maggie Harriott, Education Strategy Manager for Lambeth Council said:  "

'This is excellent news for every one of the 3193 children and their families who know where they'll be going to school in September. What's more, it means there are no families in Lambeth without an offer of a school place.'

There's been a small reduction of around 3% in first preference offers compared to last year's admissions but that's against a similar increase in overall applications in line with Lambeth's planned projections for school places.  There are a number of outstanding late applications yet to be processed but there is enough capacity in Lambeth schools to ensure all will receive an offer before the start of the next academic year.

Lambeth is one of the leading boroughs for online applications with nearly all applications made online  -   81% more than last year.

Lambeth Labour launch our manifesto for 2014

Lambeth Labour has launched our manifesto for the 2014 council election.

We're proud of our record running Lambeth Council over the past eight years, proud of what we've achieved locally in Kennington and Vauxhall, and are ambitious for what we want to achieve over the next four years.

Our pledges are to:

1.    Help you with the rising cost of living by freezing council tax for the sixth year in a row

2.    Boost jobs and grow local businesses by offering every young person access to job support, training or an apprenticeship

3.    Make Lambeth cleaner and greener by resurfacing 130 miles of roads and pavements and recycling more waste than ever before

4.    Create safer neighbourhoods and build the homes we need by campaigning to protect community police and building 1,000 new council homes

5.    Give young people the best start in life by offering free breakfasts in all our  primary schools

6.    Help to keep you healthy by getting more people involved in sporting activities and healthy exercise

Read the full manifesto here

Half a million pounds to restore Kennington Park Flower Garden

From the Friends of Kennington Park:

The Heritage Lottery Fund has given a grant of £374,000 towards the restoration of the Flower Garden. Lambeth Council are contributing £82,000. The Friends have agreed to donate £2,500 for students from City & Guilds Art School to design and make a sundial to replace the one destroyed by vandals many years ago.

Adding in the notional value of future voluntary effort from the Friends, the total  project exceeds £500,000.

Many people have contributed over a long period to achieve this success. Using the earlier grant given to plan the restoration the Friends were able to consult widely last year in the park and with ‘stakeholders’. The views from park users have been reflected in the plans drawn up by the landscape architects and now approved.

A new entrance will be opened from the Green Link, which will be re-landscaped.

Paths will be re-laid and new boundaries will give clear sightlines. The lily-pond will be re-created; the pergolas and many existing features will be sympathetically restored and fresh planting introduced. There will be new garden furniture.

The work is planned to finish by late summer 2015. We will then embark on the Activity Plan drawn up by the Friends to raise awareness of the Flower Garden and widen the range of its users. A gardening instructor will help those who want to take an active part in maintaining the garden, supplementing the work of the contractor.

I want to thank everyone whose work has contributed to this success and Lambeth Council for supporting the Friends’ original initiative. Testimonials in support came from our MP Kate Hoey and a wide range of other individuals and organisations.

As the plans develop, we will publish updates to keep you in the picture.

Yours sincerely

GORDON JOHNSTON

Westminster Tower Public Exhibition 24 April

From CLS Holdings:

You are invited to attend a public exhibition detailing proposals for a forthcoming planning application to refurbish our existing offices and convert some to residential accommodation at Westminster Tower on the Albert Embankment.

Before a planning application is submitted to Lambeth Council, you have an opportunity to see the plans and comment on the proposals. The exhibition will include images and detailed information of the plans. Members of the project team will be available to answer any questions.

Our proposal

We are proposing to refurbish the existing Westminster Tower office building, which is now inappropriate for the modern office environment. Additionally, we propose a change of use of some of the office space to housing including shared ownership housing.

The redesign has been carried out to improve energy performance of the building and the built environment on the Albert Embankment. We will also be improving the frontage and façade of the building. The façade will now be mainly Portland Stone to recognise and reflect the character of the Southbank area.

About CLS

Westminster Tower has been owned since the 1990s by Three Albert Embankment Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of local property investor CLS Holdings plc. CLS has its headquarters located in Vauxhall where it has been investing for over 20 years.

We hope you will be able to come along to our exhibition – we look forward to hearing your views.

If you are unable to attend and would like more information please contact us via email, letter or Freephone.

Find out more

Garden Museum, 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7LB.

Thursday 24 April 2pm-8pm.

Contact us

Freephone: 0800 458 6976

email: newwestminstertower@yourshout.org

Write to: New Westminster Tower, FREEPOST RTGB-KBZB-ZSKJ, Your Shout, 1-45 Durham Street, London SE11 5JH

Website: www.newwestminstertower.com

Your councillors have asked for more information about why the building is not suitable as a modern office, what its current and recent occupancy has been, and how the loss of employment space can be justified.